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Mia Hamm, also known as Mariel Margaret Hamm, is a retired soccer player. Mia Hamm’s international career started at age 15, making her the youngest women’s soccer player ever to make the national team. She then went to the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and led the team to four consecutive NCAA National Championships. After graduating she moved on to play full-time professional soccer for the U.S. National Team.
Mia Hamm retired in 2004. Since then, she has remained active in the soccer community. She is married to Major League Baseball player Nomar Garciaparra, and together they co-own the Los Angeles Football Club of Major League Soccer. She is considered one of the all-time greatest female soccer players and has published books telling her life and soccer career.
Mia Hamm’s soccer career began at 15 when she was the youngest soccer player to ever play for the U.S. Women’s National Soccer Team. Hamm then continued her education and soccer career at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill. Through her undergraduate four years, Hamm led the team to win four NCAA National Championships.
After graduating from UNC, Hamm went directly to the U.S. women’s national soccer team, where she played in 276 games.
At 19 years old, Hamm was the youngest soccer player in history to win the World Cup. Hamm led the team to win two World Cups and two Olympic gold medals. Mia Hamm retired in 2004 after the Summer Olympics in Athens but remains heavily involved in the soccer world through co-owning the Los Angeles Football Club of Major League Soccer.
Mia Hamm set many records for soccer players in the world. Hamm was the youngest player to join the women’s national soccer team and the youngest in history to win a World Cup. In 2001 and 2002, Mia Hamm was named FIFA’s “World Player of the Year.” She led her college soccer team to four consecutive National Championships. Hamm then went on to the U.S. Women’s National Soccer Team, where she led the team to two World Cup wins and two Olympic gold medals. Hamm was the record holder for most international goals scored until 2013. From 1994-1998, Mia Hamm was named Soccer USA’s “Female Athlete of the Year.” In 2004, she was put on the list of the “125 Greatest Living Soccer Players.
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Mia Hamm, full name Mariel Margaret Hamm, was born in Selma, Alabama, on March 17, 1972. Hamm’s father being an Air Force pilot meant the family moved often, but they always encouraged Hamm to continue participating in sports. In 1994, Hamm married her college boyfriend, Christian Cory. After a split in 2001, Hamm married Nomar Garciaparra, who she is still married to now. In 2004, Hamm retired from professional soccer to focus on her family. She founded the Mia Hamm Foundation for bone marrow research after her brother Garrett died from a rare blood disease. Founded in 1999, the Mia Hamm Foundation raises funds for families in need of bone marrow or blood transplants and as a developmental foundation for women in sports.
Mia Hamm was 32 years old when she officially retired from professional play. By starting so young, Mia Hamm was able to retire earlier than many other soccer players. Mia Hamm played on the national women’s soccer team from 1987-2004, a 17-year career. Hamm retired to start a family, focus on her personal life, and continue in the soccer world from a different angle.
Mia Hamm is considered to be one of the best soccer players of all time. During her time, she was awarded every title possible recognizing her as the best female player.
After playing in 275 matches, she retired, and since then have come many other great female soccer players. Mia Hamm can be considered one of the original female players to make a mark in women’s soccer.
Mia Hamm retired in 2004 to start her family with her husband, Nomar Garciaparra. In 2007, Mia Hamm became the mother of two twin girls, Grace and Ava. In 2012, Mia Hamm and Nomar Garciaparra had a son, named Garrett. This son was named after Mia Hamm’s brother, who passed away after complications with his rare blood disease. Mia Hamm is now still married to Nomar Garciaparra and is raising her three kids with him.
Since retiring, Mia Hamm stayed in the soccer world by co-owning the Los Angeles Football Club of Major League Soccer with her husband and others. She has also released books about her journey and career. Mia Hamm also focuses on her foundation, the Mia Hamm Foundation, which raises awareness and money for people who need bone marrow transplants.
In addition, it focuses on introducing women to sports at a young age.
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(Soccer Player)
Birthday: March 17, 1972 (Pisces)
Born In: Selma, Alabama
Mariel Margaret Hamm-Garciaparra, popularly known as Mia Hamm, is a former American soccer player who won the Women's World Cup twice and is also a two-time Olympic gold medalist. She played in the US women's national soccer team for 17 years, and held the record for most international goals scored till June 2013. Named FIFA's World Player of the Year for two consecutive years, Hamm was also elected Soccer USA's Female Athlete of the Year for five consecutive years.
She was the face of the first professional women's soccer league in the US as well. Currently, she holds the third position in the history of the US national team for international caps (276), and the first position for career assists (144). Named the Sportswoman of the Year for two years by The Women's Sports Foundation, she is the first woman to be inducted into the World Football Hall of Fame. She is the co-owner of the Major League Soccer team, Los Angeles FC, and the global ambassador for Barcelona FC. She was also named to the board of the National Soccer Hall of Fame in 2014. In addition, she is the founder of the Mia Hamm Foundation for bone marrow research.
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Quick Facts
Also Known As: Mariel Margaret Hamm-Garciaparra
Age: 50 Years, 50 Year Old Females
Family:
Spouse/Ex-: Nomar Garciaparra (m.
2003), Christian Corry (m. 1994–2001)
father: Bill Hamm
mother: Stephanie Hamm
siblings: Garrett Hamm
children: Ava Caroline Garciaparra, Garrett Garciaparra, Grace Isabella Garciaparra
Quotes By Mia Hamm Football Players
Height: 5'5" (165 cm), 5'5" Females
U.S. State: Alabama
More Facts
education: Lake Braddock Secondary School, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
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Childhood & Early Life
Mia Hamm was born on March 17, 1972, in Selma, Alabama as the fourth child of Air Force pilot Bill Hamm and Stephanie. Throughout her childhood, she and her family stayed at various United States Air Force bases around the world. She has five siblings.
She played soccer for the first time when she and her family moved to Florence, Italy. At Texas, she joined a soccer team for the first time. Her father coached her and her adopted brother Garrett.
While she was at the junior high school, she excelled as a football player in the boys' team.
She also played soccer for the Notre Dame Catholic High School in Texas. In 1987, at the age of 15, she debuted for the US women's national soccer team, and played at the US Olympic Festival. She was then the youngest player in the US women's national soccer team.
When she attended the Lake Braddock Secondary School in Burke, Virginia, she helped its soccer team win the 1989 state championships. She attended the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill with a scholarship from 1989 to 1994, and helped Tar Heels women's soccer team win four NCAA Division I Women's Soccer Championships.
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Career
In 1991, when Mia Hamm played at the FIFA Women's World Cup in China, she was just 19 years old and was the youngest player in the team. In the first match, she scored the game-winning goal, and led the team to a victory. They won the semi-final against Germany, and took the first World Cup championship title after defeating Norway in the final.
In her second World Cup tournament in 1995, she scored a goal, but the match against China was a draw. The US team won the second match against Denmark. They defeated Japan in the quarter-final, but lost to Norway in the semi-finals.
During the 1996 Olympic Games in Atlanta, the first Olympic tournament to include women's soccer, the US team won against Denmark, Sweden, and Norway. During the final match against China, Hamm was injured and taken out of the field in the final minute. Nonetheless, the US team won their first Olympic gold medal.
In 1999, with her 108th goal for the US team, she set a record for scoring most international goals, breaking the record set by Italian player Elisabetta Vignotto. Hamm held the record till June 2013, when American player Abby Wambach broke it.
During the 2000 Olympics in Sydney, she scored a goal against Norway and the US team won the game. They defeated Nigeria, and in the semi-finals, Hamm scored the game-winning goal against Brazil, which helped her to set a record for most goals scored in international play by a woman or man.
However, the US team was defeated by Norway in the final, and they earned the silver medal.
In 2001, she played in the Women's United Soccer Association (WUSA), the first women's soccer league in the US, as a founding player. From 2001-03, she played for the Washington Freedom. Throughout the league's history, she was acclaimed as the star of the league.
In July 2004, during a game against Australia, she scored her 151st international goal, and set a record for most international goals scored by any player in the world, male or female. She held the record till 2013.
Hamm announced her impending retirement on May 14, 2004, at the age of 32. She played her last international match in December 2004. Over the course of her career with the US women's national soccer team, she played 42 matches in international tournaments, and scored 14 goals. She made 276 appearances with the US national team. She played in four FIFA Women's World Cup tournaments—in China (1991), Sweden (1995), and the US (1999, 2003).
She led the team in three Olympic Games—1996 in Atlanta, 2000 in Sydney, and 2004 in Athens.
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Awards & Achievements
While playing for the Tar Heels women's soccer team, Mia Hamm was named the Atlantic Coast Conference Player of the Year for three consecutive years and the ACC Female Athlete of the Year for two consecutive years.
The Women's Sports Foundation named her the Sportswoman of the Year in 1997 and 1999. In 1999, Nike named the largest building on its corporate campus after Hamm.
In 2000, FIFA Female Player of the Century Awards named her as one of the top three female soccer players of the 20th century.
She was also elected as the US Soccer Female Athlete of the Year for five years—from 1994 to 1998. She won three ESPY awards including the Soccer Player of the Year and Female Athlete of the Year.
In 2004, she was listed in the FIFA 100 as one of the greatest living soccer players.
In 2006, she was inducted into the Alabama Sports Hall of Fame, and into the Texas Sports Hall of Fame in 2008.
She was selected for induction into the National Soccer Hall of Fame in 2007.
In 2013, she was inducted into the World Football Hall of Fame. In the same year, she was named US Soccer's USWNT All-Time Best XI. She received the Golden Foot Legends Award in 2014.
Personal Life
Mia Hamm married Christiaan Corry, a US Marine Corps helicopter pilot, in 1995; they divorced in 2001. She married Boston Red Sox shortstop Nomar Garciaparra on November 22, 2003. They have twin girls—Grace Isabella and Ava Caroline, and a son Garrett Anthony.
She has authored the national bestseller ‘Go For the Goal: A Champion's Guide to Winning in Soccer and Life’, and the fiction ‘Winners Never Quit’.
She founded the Mia Hamm Foundation after her adopted brother Garrett died in 1997 due to aplastic anemia, a rare blood disease. The foundation spreads awareness about bone marrow diseases, and also raises funds for people who need bone marrow transplants. It also creates opportunities in the field of sports to empower women.
During her soccer career, she had endorsed brands like Gatorade, Nike, Dreyer's Ice Cream, Pepsi, and several others. The magazines ‘Sports Illustrated,’ ‘Time,’ and ‘People’ have featured her on their covers.
She was also seen in several television shows like ‘Good Morning America’, ‘The Oprah Winfrey Show’, ‘Late Night with David Letterman,’ and many others. ESPN SportsCentury and Biography have profiled her.
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Mia Hamm American retired professional football player. two-time Olympic gold medalist and two-time FIFA Women's World Champion.
Hailed as a football icon, she was a forward on the US Women's National Soccer Team from 1987 to 2004.
Hamm was the face of the Women's United Soccer Association (WUSA).
She played for Washington Freedom from 2001 to 2003. She played college football for the North Carolina Tar Heels women's soccer team and helped the team win four consecutive NCAA Division I Women's Championship titles.
Mariel Margaret-Garciaparra Hamm was born March 17, 1972 in Selma, Alabama. As of 2019, she is 42 years old. She celebrates her birthday every year on March 15th.
In Texas, Mia joined the football team for the first time. Her father trained her with her adopted brother Garrett. In junior high school, she excelled as a football player on the men's team.
She also played football at Notre Dame Catholic High School in Texas.
In 1987, at the age of 15, she made her debut for the US women's soccer team and played at the US Olympic Festival.
Mia Hamm was then the youngest player on the US women's soccer team. When she attended Lake Braddock High School in Burke, Virginia, she helped her football team win the 19 state championship89 years old
Mia Hamm attended the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill on a scholarship from 1989 to 1994. Helped the Tar Heels women's soccer team win four NCAA Division I women's soccer championships.
In 1991, when Mia Hamm played in the Women's World Cup in China, she was only 19 years old and was the youngest player on the team. In the first match, she scored the winning goal and led the team to victory.
They won the semi-final against Germany and took first place in the World Cup after defeating Norway in the final. In her second World Cup in 1995, she scored a goal, but the match against China ended in a draw.
The US team won the second match against Denmark. They beat Japan in the quarter-finals but lost to Norway in the semi-finals. During the 1996 Olympic Games in Atlanta, the first Olympic women's football tournament.
Team USA beat Denmark, Sweden and Norway. During the final match against China, Hamm suffered an injury and was sent off in the last minute. However, Team USA won their first Olympic gold medal.
In 1999, with her 108th goal for the US national team, she set the record for the most goals scored for the US national team, breaking the record of Italian soccer player Elisabetta Vignotto. Hamm held the record until June 2013 when he was beaten by American player Abby Wambach. During the 2000 Sydney Olympics, she scored against Norway and Team USA won the game. They beat Nigeria in the semi-finals as well. Hamm scored the winning goal against Brazil, which helped her set the record for the most goals scored by a woman or a man in an international match.
However, in the final, Team USA lost to Norway and won the silver medal. In 2001, she played in the Women's United Soccer Association (WUSA), the first women's soccer league in the United States, as a founding player. She played for Washington Freedom from 2001 to 2003. Throughout the league's history, she has been regarded as the league's star. In July 2004, during a game against Australia, she scored her 151st international goal and set the record for the most international goals scored by any player in the world, male or female. She held the record until 2013.
Hamm was named Women's Sports Foundation Sportswoman of the Year in 1997 and 1999. In June 1999, Nike named Hamm the largest building on its corporate campus.
In December 2000, Hamm was named one of the top three female players of the twentieth century by FIFA's Player of the Century, behind only Sun Wen and compatriot Michelle Akers.
In March 2004, Hamm and former US teammate Michelle Akers were the only women and Americans included in FIFA 100, a list of the 125 greatest living footballers selected by Pelé and commissioned by FIFA for the organization's 100th anniversary.
Other honors included being US Female Athlete of the Year for five consecutive years from 1994 to 1998 and winning three ESPY awards, including Footballer of the Year and Female Athlete of the Year.
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In 2006, Hamm was inducted into the Alabama Sports Hall of Fame, and on March 11, 2008, into the Texas Sports Hall of Fame. In 2007, during her first year of eligibility, Hamm was selected to be inducted into the National Football Hall of Fame.
In 2008, the image of her silhouette was used in the logo of the second professional women's soccer league in the United States: Women's Professional Soccer. ESPN named her the Greatest Female Athlete of 2012.
In 2013, Hamm became the first woman to be inducted into the World Football Hall of Fame, located in Pachuca, Mexico. In December 2013, she was named the US Football Player of the Year USWNT All-Time Best XI.
In 2014, Hamm was named as one of the contestants on ESPNW Impact 25; she was also the recipient of the Golden Foot Legends Award.
For her first match March 2019
Melissa McBride is tied with Danny McBride
Each of the women on the United States women's national soccer team wore a jersey with the name of the woman they revered on the back; Samantha Mewis chose the name Ham0003
Mia Hamm was a phenomenal soccer game that made women's soccer more popular. Hamm knows better than anyone how to score more international goals in his career than any other man or woman.
She played for the US Women's Soccer Team for 17 years and was named FIFA Player of the Year in 2001 and 2002. Notable Alumni: University of North Carolina - Chapel Hill.
Throughout her childhood, she and her family lived in various United States Air Force Bases around the world. She has five brothers and sisters. She first played soccer when she moved to Florence, Italy with her family.
Mia was the fourth of Bill and Stephanie Hamm's six children.
As a child, she wore corrective shoes after she was born with a club foot. Siblings: Garrett Hamm. Children: Ava Caroline Garciaparra, Garrett Garciaparra, Grace Isabella Garciaparra
Hamm was first married to her college sweetheart, Christian Corry, a USMC helicopter pilot; they divorced in 2001 after six years of marriage.
She married then-Boston Red Sox shortstop Nomar Garciaparra on November 22, 2003 in Goleta, California in a ceremony attended by several hundred guests.
On March 27, 2007, Hamm gave birth to twin girls, Grace Isabella and Ava Caroline. Despite being born five weeks early, each girl weighed over 5 pounds (2.3 kg) at birth. In January 2012, the couple had a son named Garrett Anthony.
I make a fire and every day I train, I add fuel. At the right moment, I light a match.
There are always new, bigger challenges, and the true winner will accept each one.
I am a team member and I rely on the team, I obey it and sacrifice for it, because the team, not the individual, is the ultimate champion.
Take your victories, whatever they may be, cherish them, use them but don't settle for them
Sports are becoming more specialized, but that doesn't mean they shouldn't be fun.
I could sit there and eat pasta all day and not worry about it when I was younger, and now I really need to focus on setting a good example for my kids.
Being a good teammate is when you try to hit a ball that everyone thinks goes out of bounds. But you will still understand it and get it.
I don't like to play rough, but I will if I have to.
Height: 5’5″ (165 cm), 5’5″. w3e is currently considering other body options which we will update soon.
Mia Hamm Net Worth: Mia Hamm is a former American professional football player with a net worth of $10 million. As of 2019year, her net worth combined with assets and brands claimed her total net worth to be $10 million.
Her annual salary in 2009 was estimated at over $93,000.
A sports icon like him has been endorsed by several brands due to his market personality. Her advertising deals have been with brands like Gatorade, Nike, Pepsi, Nabisco, Earthgrains, Powerbar, etc. etc.
It turned out that she bought a house on Manhattan Beach in New York, which was reported to be worth about $2,200,000.
TS The world's most famous soccer player, Mia Hamm, traded her boots for a new life as a wife and mother of three young children. In this exclusive interview, the two-time world champion and Olympic champion talks about the challenges of raising children and staying healthy off the field...
The Olympic champion is married to retired baseball star Nomar Garciaparra and the mother of twin girls, 9-year-old Grace and Ava, and 4 year old Garrett. She found that no amount of practice could have prepared her for her current challenge: making children healthy and happy.
“Life off the pitch was as stressful and hectic as preparing for the Olympics or the World Cup,” says Hamm.
She now runs the Mia Hamm Foundation, which supports organized sports for girls and helps families in need of bone marrow and cord blood transplants.
Her adopted brother Garret died in 1997 from complications of aplastic anemia, a blood disorder. She is also the co-founder of Athletes for Hope, a group that helps professional athletes use their celebrity for charitable causes.
Hamm is the author of an inspirational autobiography, Strive for the Goal: A Champion's Guide to Winning Football and Life (HarperCollins/It Books), and Winners Never Quit! (HarperCollins), a children's book about sportsmanship and teamwork.
However, most of all Hamm values the roles of wife and mother.
“I have achieved many wonderful goals, but I am most proud of my family,” she says. "Having a happy, healthy family is everything."
In this exclusive interview, Hamm shares what she teaches her children about sports and life, and how she keeps her family healthy while taking care of her own.
You have shown unshakable confidence on the football field. Are you that confident as a parent?
On the field, it's easy to tell if you're doing the right thing because you're scoring a goal or making an assist. But parenting is one of those things that develops every day.
I definitely sit and think, Am I doing this right? Why did I do it? Why do I lack patience? This self-doubt is part of the upbringing. I am trying to learn and grow every day to be a better mom.
Did you find the parenting books helpful?
You can read as many books as you like, but they are just guides. Every child and parent is different. I learn from my [children]. You must find the best way for you to be the parent your child needs. And sometimes it helps to take a step back and regroup.
How do you do it?
I exercise every day. It is very important for moms to have time for themselves so that they can recharge their batteries and look at things.
What was the most difficult thing in the transition from a full-time athlete to a full-time mother?
As far as my personal health is concerned, I don't have the same access to resources as I do while playing.
When I was in the national team, I could go to the coach or the physiotherapist if I needed something or had a question. I had full access to the doctor, and if something is wrong,
I could come in and say, "Hi, what's going on?" The doctor could solve any problem or send me to someone who could.
What is happening now?
I am just like any other person. I am wondering what to do and who to talk to about a symptom or health condition.
I used to react a little to health issues, rather than take the initiative.
I am now responsible for keeping up to date with the latest developments on vaccines and doing my best to stay healthy.
What proactive steps have you taken?
I have scheduled medical examinations and examinations.
I talk to my doctors a lot, not only when I'm not feeling well.
I spend more time with the doctor than the usual five minutes that people usually spend. I want to make sure I'm talking about a wide variety of topics, such as how to prevent disease and maintain good health.
As mothers, we tend to forget that we also need to take care of ourselves. It is important for women to take time for themselves and their health.
I try not only to keep my girls healthy, but also to stay healthy myself, because I'm with them. It's a way to protect my family too.
Why is it important for young girls to play sports?
I believe that the more opportunities for girls to play sports, the better their health and well-being.
Sport strengthens self-esteem and responsibility. It's good for girls to be part of a team and feel like they belong somewhere.
What got you into football?
I have been involved in sports for as long as I can remember.
I could not imagine childhood or youth otherwise. And football was one of the few team sports [available] for girls when I was a kid.
Did you watch professional sports as a child?
There weren't many women involved in team sports on TV. Most female sports figures and role models have been involved in individual sports such as tennis, figure skating, or gymnastics.
How did you feel when you became an example for a whole generation of girls?
I wasn't going to be a role model. At first, I didn't realize that I was becoming one, or that people were paying attention. I was so focused on what I was doing.
I think that when you find yourself in a similar situation, you spend so much time and energy on achieving your goal that you do not understand what is happening around you.
When did this change?
As I got older, the value of what we were doing started to fade in my teammates and I took my roles on and off the field very seriously.
We wanted to set a positive example. Being a role model was truly an honor.
You are a retired football superstar and your husband has just retired from baseball. Are you preparing your daughters to follow in your athletic footsteps?
Instead of pushing them to take up a certain sport, we want them to be physically active, simply because of all the benefits associated [with it]. We also want them to follow their passions and dreams. And if it's not football or baseball, it's okay.
What sports do they play now?
They kick the soccer ball and we play the ball. But nothing is organized. They do not wake up and do not want to play sports. They love to go to the park or dress up and play princesses.
As a mother of twins, what do you do to raise your daughters separately?
My husband and I believe that it is important for them to have their own identity.
We try to ensure that everyone works with them separately.
We give them the opportunity to discover who they are as individuals and as sisters. We don't expect both girls to like the same color or the same favorite food. If they come to this conclusion on their own, it's okay.
But we also appreciate the fact that they are sisters and love each other. At the moment, they are not very keen on the twins. Maybe because they don't yet understand what it really means.
Also, they are fraternal, so they don't look alike... at least I don't think so. So it helps.
How can you help them cope with the peer pressure that young girls face in school?
First of all, I'm going to make sure they know that my husband and I love them unconditionally and are always ready to help.
I always try to build that trust and develop our relationship so they know they can come to us for anything. I think it's also important to set a good example and talk to them about self-respect and pride in who they are and what they do.
I want to give them the opportunity to become strong girls who will follow their dreams and goals, not someone else's plans.
For more information about the Mia Hamm Foundation and how to donate bone marrow, visit http://www.miafoundation.org/ .
Are you a good mother?
Being a good mom means more than baking cookies and joining the WBP. It provides guidance, support, discipline and structure.
But sometimes a busy schedule and a lack of "me" time get in the way of being the best mom you can be. Find out if you've succeeded as a parent by taking this quiz.
For articles of the same name, see Hamm (disambiguation).
Mariel Margaret "Mia" Hamm , born from Selma, Alabama, is an American international soccer player.
In the 1990s, she was the most famous football player on the planet and one of the most famous female athletes in the United States due to the rise of girls' football.
She played as a striker or midfielder. Together with her compatriot Michelle Akers, she is the only woman to appear in FIFA 100 , a list of the 125 greatest living footballers published in 2004 by the International Federation.
Marielle Margaret Hamm, the youngest of five children, was born with clubfoot, a developmental defect caused by the contraction of certain muscles.
She must sleep in corrective shoes attached to a metal bar. Baby, she even needs to wear a cast. During the day, Mia wears other suitable shoes. Mia doesn't know anything about her hometown of Selma, Alabama. The family leads a nomadic lifestyle depending on the assignments of Bill's father, a colonel in the US Air Force: Alabama, California, Virginia, Texas or Italy, where the father is assigned to NATO near Florence. Being a football fan, the father often leaves the family on Sundays to go watch a Fiorentina game when Mia is only fifteen months old.
It is with her corrective shoes that Mia Hamm hits the ball for the first time at the age of two. Parents Bill and Stephanie adopted a young orphan, Garrett, who was three years her senior. Unable to form strong friendships due to constant moving, the two children do not move away from each other. Both sports fans, Mia discovered top level football on television during the 1986 World Cup. At the age of six, the girl joined her first mixed team at Notre Dame Catholic High School in Wichita Falls, Texas.
Six months later, she scored 23 goals. At ten years old, Mia plays in the boys' team, in which she dominates in the number of goals scored. At the age of fourteen, she is already a star of the intercollegiate championships, where she notices the championship of Anson Dorrance (c). Dorrance runs the University of North Carolina's women's soccer program, which is recognized as the best in the nation. Seduced, he integrates it into the American selection, which he takes into his own hands. She then enrolled at 9 for one year0132 Lake Braddock High School in Burke, with which she won the 1989 Virginia State Championship. Taking evening classes, she graduated from Anson University and entered Dorrance. Her father Bill is transferred to Rome, Dorrance takes her under his wing and becomes her legal guardian.
Hamm entered the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 1989 and has worn the colors of North Carolina heels ever since. There, she won the NCAA Women's Soccer Championship four times in five years, missing 1991 years old just to focus on the 1991 Women's World Cup in China.
Hamm loses only one of the 95 meetings in which he participates with this team.
She won the 1993 trophy ACC Female Athlete of the Year (c) , awarding the best female athlete on the Atlantic coast. She competed in the 1993 Summer Universiade Women's Soccer Tournament, an international multi-sport varsity competition, where the Americans lost in the final to China. After graduating, she left college at 1993 with record ACCA 103 goals and 72 assists.
Anson Dorrance (c) spots Mia Hamm at the intercollegiate championships. Seduced, Dorrance invited him to a training camp for an American selection in August 1987, which he took over. At fifteen, he became the youngest player in history to wear the jersey. Therefore, selection from it will no longer occur.
Mia Hamm warming up around 1998 years.
Four years later, she was called up for the first Women's World Cup held in China.
At 19, she is the youngest player in a group put together by Anson Dorrance (c), a North Carolina coach. She was given number 9, which she would retain for the rest of her international career. In the first match, she scored the decisive goal for Sweden (3:2), then scored the second against Brazil in a sharp loss (5:0). Finally, she competed in six matches of her choice in which she won the trophy in the final against Norway (2:1) in front of 65,000 spectators.
Hamm in a tackle match, circa 1998.
In 1995, Hamm was logically chosen to compete in the 1995 World Championship organized in Sweden, this time under the direction of Tony DiCicco. At 23, she has 89 caps before the competition. She scores in the first match against China (3:3). When 2 e game replaces the guardian, Briana Skrarry, after he is banished from earth. The Americans, who advanced to the semi-finals, are surprised by Norway, which takes revenge four years earlier (0: 1) and is forced to be content with 3- m place after defeating China in the small final (2: 0).
Shortly thereafter, the American selection won the first US Cup against Norway, Australia and Taiwan. Hamm is called MVP .
Hamm was the center player for the American team during the women's tournament at the 1996 Olympic Games held in Atlanta, USA. Although reduced, she played four out of five games, scored a goal and actively contributed to the final victory over China (2:1), even if she was forced off the field due to injury. During those years, Mia Hamm accumulated awards: thus, she was named American Footballer of the Year for five years in a row between 1994 and 1998. Mia Hamm then broke the world record for most goals scored in the national selection and became the second most goalscored player in history behind Christine Lilly.
Hamm competed in his 3- m 1999 World Championship, this time held in the United States. She played six matches and scored two goals.
The final against China will see more than 90,000 spectators in the Rose Bowl, which is a world record. It is won by the Americans on penalties after a goalless draw. Mia Hamm writes her own. It's 2- and the title of world champion Mia Hamm, who shares with Michelle Akers, Julie Foudy and Christine Lilly the feat of victorious finals in 1991, 1996 and 1999.
The following year, Mia Hamm was in the group for the Sydney Olympics. Hamm plays five matches of the tournament, but in the final the Americans lose to Norway (2-3 and ). In 2001 and 2002, she won the first two FIFA World Player Trophies (in the next two years after the German Birgit Prinz, she will point to 2 e in the standings).
In 2003, at the age of 31, she participated in her four are global, organized in the United States due to the outbreak of SARS in China. Unlike the previous three tournaments, the Americans did not reach the final, having beaten Germany in the semi-finals in Portland (0:3). However, they took 3 - and places from Canada.
At Mia Hamm announces her decision to retire from the sport after the Athens Olympics in order to be able to start a family with her husband Nomar Garciaparra. She ended her career in style, with an Olympic title. He plays all six matches, including the semi-final with Germany (2-1) and the final with Brazil (2-1).
She is the flag bearer for the American delegation during the closing ceremony. After the Games, they toured the country to celebrate the anniversary of Julie Fowdy, Joy Fawcett and Mia Hamm. Hamm put on the jersey of choice for the last time. facing Mexico.
During her career, she played 17 years for her national team, scoring 275 caps and 158 goals, making her the top goalscorer in official football history, both for men and women.
For most of Mia Hamm's career, there was no professional women's soccer league in the United States, so she did not play for any professional club. In 2000, she helped found the Women's United Soccer Association (WUSA), America's first professional women's soccer league. First championship between eight franchises kicks off at .
Hamm wears the colors of Washington Liberty.
In the first match of the first season, against the Gulf Cyber Rays (in), he scores the first goal, receiving a controversial penalty. Hamm's team lost in the 2002 final to Caroline Courage (ru) (2-3), and won the title the following season. However, there is no public, and the league is suspended at , at the end of this third season.
During a university national championship in the early 1990s, Mia Hamm met Christian Korri, an outstanding athlete who later became a Marine Corps fighter pilot, and her husband.
Mia Hamm is married to Nomar Garciaparra, a former baseball player, and a pair of twin girls were born in 2007 and a son was born in 2012. The couple is one of 22 co-owners of Los Angeles FC in Major League Soccer.
On the occasion of the 2012 Summer Olympics in London, Piccadilly Circus station has been temporarily renamed to its name.
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